Aidnography

Hi all, Surrounded by moving boxes comes the latest link review! Development news: Did Angelina Jolie really do harm on her film set? What are the Clooneys up to in Lebanon? Haiti's sewage problem; climate change and suicide in India; crimes against women in India; electoral information campaigns don’t work anywhere; evidence-based policy-making in the tropics; sued over a critical facebook post; board trouble at Ushahidi? Corporate BS: Sending employees on voluntourism trips; aid workers as authors.      Our digital lives: Transparency & accountability at G4S; the ‘mind trap’ of social entrepreneurism: class and breastfeeding; the price of unpaid internships. Publications: New open access anthropological textbook Enjoy! Development news Angelina Jolie Refutes Vanity Fair’s Portrayal Of Controversial Auditions Jolie said in a statement Saturday that the audition scene had been taken out of context. According to the actress, there were parents, guardians and n...

Hi all, We are in the middle of packing boxes and prepare for the move to a new apartment next week, so I’ll keep the intro short: Development news: Angelina Jolie & how celebrities shouldn’t engage in distant places; how much ODA is really spend on #globaldev? Can Gueterres disrupt UN bureaucracy? Uranium mining in Niger; once and for all: Don’t send your old stuff abroad/to refugees! Uganda’s new activism; the IMF’s social protection thinking is behind the curve; Gentrifying Kibera-Kenya’s well-known slum; Kony’s bodyguard talks; perceptions of poverty of India’s urban youngsters; Sean Penn has a new terrible aid work(er) movie out; the trouble with caste-free Bollywood movies; is the world really better than ever? Our digital lives: Participatory community mapping; how to ace narrative writing; the gendered challenges of paying women in exposure and as influencers; where are the mothers in news rooms? Publication : Digital anthropology from the fields.  Aca...

After Duncan Green mentioned George Monbiot’s career advice and added some reflections from his aid industry policy angle , I am yet another (white) man with a stable career – this time in academia – who is supposed to tell you how to get ‘there’… I am probably the most careful one when it comes to the ‘follow your passion’ discourse. George Monbiot is not writing about the aid industry In fact, two of his three routes he outlines are potentially quite terrible in connection with international development: Just going to the field and ‘doing it’ sounds like a voluntourism disaster to happen and ‘if you are fed up with mainstream employers just create your own brand’ (Monbiot uses slightly more radical and less creative industry language) will also lead to a challenging ‘career’-even with some professional experience under your belt. To be honest, I find Monbiot’s reflections really not that helpful as there is little room for balance with other aspects of your existence: Working for a...

Hi all, Did I mention that 'summer' has so far passed by the South of Sweden and I am finishing this review on a November-like gloomy afternoon...anyway, there is lots to discover this week-regardless of whether you are going to read on a beach, in the office or in front of a cozy fireplace ;)! Development news: Orphanages and exploitation in Haiti ; Somali piracy reloaded; African academics and their wish list for the WHO director; The G20 and the limitations of its Compact With Africa; inside the dysfunctional UN in Myanmar ; remittances, rice & real estate in Nepal ; Kathmandu’s wood carvers; reviewing emergency shelters; lunch meetings are a terrible idea; Americans want to help homeless people, but…; social justice orthodoxies; South African poets on writing & changing minds. Our digital lives: Reclaiming social entrepreneurship; the trouble with Bridge academies; a 4,000 USD Renault for India ; why study journalism these days?  Publications: M...